Frank Howarth’s Latest Project Includes Cutting a Wood Bowl with a CNC Machine

As far as turning wooden bowls on a lathe goes, Frank Howarth is the man. Even so, the master himself needs an added challenge every now and again…and this one is three years in the making.

For his most recent project, the woodworker/filmmaker took a bowl he had previously turned from a raw piece of maple (no doubt cut near his wooded Portland, Oregon workshop) and let dry for three years. After noticing knots in the grain, he did exactly what Frank Howarth would do and fired up the CNC to cut them out with a custom-made jig. As if the challenge of cutting curved material on a CNC wasn’t enough, Frank took it one more step and plugged the resulting holes with an imitation brick pattern made from maple and walnut strips.

Says Frank:

“The idea was to have the bowl look like a plastered brick bowl with the plaster coming off in a few places.”

The resulting “Wood Turned Brick Bowl” is definitely one of the coolest wood bowls we’ve ever seen, even if Frank is a little displeased with the finished product:

Simon is a Brooklyn-based industrial designer and Managing Editor of EVD Media. When he finds the time to design, his focus is on helping startups develop branding and design solutions to realize their product design vision. In addition to his work at Nike and various other clients, he is the main reason anything gets done at EvD Media. He once wrestled an Alaskan alligator buzzard to the ground with his bare hands… to rescue Josh.